Beijing, Dec 24 (IANS) China's first home-grown amphibious aircraft AG600 on Sunday completed its maiden flight in Guangdong province
At 9.39 a.m., the aircraft, code named "Kunlong", successfully soared into the sky from the Jinwan Civil Aviation Airport in the city of Zhuhai. The flight lasted about one hour, reports Xinhua news agency.
"Its successful maiden flight makes China among the world's few countries capable of developing a large amphibious aircraft," said Huang Lingcai, chief designer of the AG600.
The aircraft, powered by four domestically-built turboprop engines, has a 39.6-metre-long fuselage and a 38.8-metre wingspan, said its developer, the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).
According to the AVIC source, the amphibious aircraft, with a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes and a top cruising speed of 500 km per hour, can fly for 12 hours at a time.
It is believed to be the world's largest amphibious aircraft.
(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
About VDC
Doraiah Chowdary Vundavally is a Software engineer at VTech . He is the news editor of SocialNews.XYZ and Freelance writer-contributes Telugu and English Columns on Films, Politics, and Gossips. He is the primary contributor for South Cinema Section of SocialNews.XYZ. His mission is to help to develop SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards any.